Translating progress in neuroimaging into clinical practice

Abstract

Neuroimaging continues to be an exciting and rapidly evolving research field producing findings to inform clinical medical practice. Neuroimaging research has enabled a better understanding of in vivo structural, functional, and molecular neuropathology. Moreover, it has the potential to improve clinical care, where clinical assessment alone is sometimes insufficient to provide accurate diagnosis and prognosis. The future direction of neuroimaging is likely to focus on identifying imaging biomarkers suggestive of underlying preclinical disease, understanding the temporal progression from preclinical disease to overt clinical manifestation, and monitoring the therapeutic efficacy of potential disease-modifying agents.